Murder
Mentions: William Wise Publication: Savannah Morning News Date: 30 October 2014 Author: Michael Harris Original: https://www.savannahnow.com/article/20141030/NEWS/310309723 ---- On March 1, 1734, a man named William Wise was found dead in his house on Hutchinson Island, across the river from Savannah. His body was lying on a bed. His head, however, was in a large pail of water. He still had a neckerchief tied around his neck and it looked as if he had been strangled and drowned. His death was the first murder in the fledgling colony of Savannah. Wise had arrived in December 1733, taking it upon himself to sail to Savannah after the Georgia Trustees in England balked at putting him on the charity list. He had a reputation for being somewhat shady, taking with him a young woman he passed off as his daughter but who was in fact a prostitute. Instead of sending him back to England, James Oglethorpe put him across the river at the cattle farm. Missing from Wise’s home when his body was discovered were two of his Irish indentured servants, Alice Riley and Richard White. They had unexpectedly arrived just two months earlier on a ship with 38 other Irish servants, all of them famished and nearly dead from starvation. Fast forward 280 years to the present. You are on one of many Savannah ghost tours. As you approach Wright Square you hear it was once the “hanging square,” where people convicted of capital crimes met their deaths at the end of a hangman’s rope. You hear the story of Riley who, along with her lover and fellow servant White, killed their abusive and degenerate master, William Wise. The two were eventually caught and sentenced to death. Riley’s execution, however, was delayed until she gave birth to her son. You are also told Riley’s ghost haunts the square to this very day, searching for her lost baby, and an assortment of other spooky, devious details about her - that she practiced witchcraft; she and White dumped Wise’s body in the Savannah River after killing him; and her ghost often appears to pregnant women and mothers with infants, seeking to take their babies from them. You might also hear it took three days for Riley (or White) to die after being hanged, and that her body was left on the gallows after being hanged only to have it mysteriously disappear overnight. To complete the ghostly mystery surrounding Riley’s death, you might also hear she cursed the Savannah residents as she was being hanged, and that Spanish moss doesn’t grow on the trees in the square because of her curses. For better or worse, depending on one’s perspective, the various Alice Riley ghost stories all claim their spins on the murder are true and based on fact. But what is the real story of the murder of Wise and the fate of Riley and White? The tale Reporter Lillian Bragg first introduced the Alice Riley story in a 1959 Savannah Morning News Magazine article entitled, “The Woman Savannah Hanged!” Bragg’s story is a highly romantic account of the two servants. She claims they were from the same small Irish village and fell in love before coming to Savannah. They were placed together in Wise’s home, and because of his harsh demands and lecherous ways Richard devised a plan to kill him so the two could run away to Charleston and their freedom. They were captured and White was hanged immediately, with Riley’s execution some months later after her baby was born. According to Bragg, White was the father of Riley’s child. What do the documents attesting to Wise’s murder actually report? The earliest account of the murder of Wise is from a letter written to Oglethorpe by town recorder Thomas Christie. He wrote to Oglethorpe, who was away in England with Tomochichi’s Indian delegation, on Dec. 14, 1734. Christie adds the details surrounding Wise’s death at the end of a lengthy letter detailing the various problems the Savannah citizens were facing, almost as an afterthought. He begins his report: “The unfortunate Mr. Wise, his effects were sold.” His valuables brought a mere 20 pounds sterling, considerably less than he was worth. Christie surmises the other valuables were no doubt stolen by the “villain who murdered him.” He then says Wise had been sick the whole time he was on the island and was in a “weak condition,” confined to his bed. Because of this, he would have Riley and White perform a daily bathing and grooming ritual. White’s job was to help comb his long hair, in which he took a great deal of pride. Riley’s job was to bathe him. Without offering any motive for their subsequent actions, Christie says one morning Riley, “by the direction and influence of White,” brought a pail of water and set it down by the ailing man’s bed. White, he says, “came in also pretending to assist and comb his hair.” As he was pretending to comb Wise’s hair, White instead grabbed the neckerchief he kept around his neck, and “twisted (it) till he was almost suffocated.” Riley then jumped in and “plunged his face in the pail of water.” Since the man was already weak from illness, he was “soon dispatched.” Christie ends his letter by referring Oglethorpe to the “proceedings of the court.” Those records have since been lost. The second letter concerning the murderous affair was penned by Savannah colonist Edward Jenkins to Oglethorpe on Jan. 20, 1735. He tells the general he, along with two other colonists - brothers Henry and William Parker - were working on Jenkins’ land when one of their servants spotted a man running very fast through the woods. Jenkins looked and saw that it was Richard White, who had escaped from jail. The two Parker brothers agree to pursue him with their only weapons, “two hooks and an ax.” If White gave them any trouble, the men were instructed to “kill him immediately.” After sneaking up on White, Jenkins called his name. He says White was “much surprised,” and fell to his knees. The escaped convict immediately began begging for his life, but Jenkins and Henry Parker firmly grabbed him by each side of his collar and took him into Savannah. Jenkins says they held him very firm, since he had heard White often boast how 10 men couldn’t take him. They ask White along the way what he was doing in the woods. He told them he was looking for a woman and a house with provisions, but couldn’t find her or the house. Along the way White would continually beg for his life and ask the men to leave him in the woods. Jenkins ironically told him he would die in the woods if they left him. White retorted he would “joyfully perish in the woods rather than die on the gallows.” Without any further fanfare, Jenkins bluntly states: “He was taken immediately to the gallows.” He adds White insisted to the bitter end he was innocent of the murder and by “all appearances died a Roman.” That is, they were sure he was a Roman Catholic. He ends his letter with this information on Riley, saying “the woman was hanged yesterday and denied the murder of Wise.” He then adds this interesting and mysterious statement about her: “The most she had to answer for was by her being so wicked to confess such a thing that she was not guilty of, by which she imagined the death of White.” He concludes she appeared to be of the “same principle as White.” That is, also a Roman Catholic. The final reference to the event is by Christie. In a letter written on March 19, 1735, he says Alice Riley was “hanged some months ago,” within six weeks after she delivered her baby. Their trial was held on May 11, 1734. He ends with this sad note: “The child is since dead.” Riley’s baby, James, died two weeks after his mother was hanged. Based on the date of Jenkins’ letter, it appears Alice Riley was hanged on Jan. 19, 1735. In her article, Bragg says both Alice Riley and her baby were buried in a plot of land just off Wright Square, at what is now 9 W. York St. The facts? What do these accounts tell us about Wise’s murder and the fates of White and Riley? As far as the ghost stories are concerned, a few things seem apparent. If White and Riley had dumped Wise’s body in the Savannah River, then Christie would certainly have included it in his account. He does not. Neither does he nor Jenkins say Riley practiced witchcraft, black magic or any other sort of occult activity. While the early Protestant settlers considered these Irish servants to be Catholic, they did not consider it to be witchcraft or any other occult activity. Jenkins does not say it took three days for Riley or White to die on the gallows. Again, it would have been reported if this had been the case. Nor does he say Riley’s body was left on the gallows, only to disappear overnight. These assertions are all fantasies concocted by those who tell ghost stories, intended to add a bit of supernatural color to otherwise poor and unfortunate Irish servants. Such assertions may make Riley and White more mysterious, but the nature of their stories contain inherent mysteries. The most mysterious part of the murder is the cryptic remark by Riley, her “confession,” mentioned by Jenkins. As an eyewitness to the hanging, he would have seen and heard everything that happened when she was brought to the gallows. It appears Riley confessed against White and told the authorities he killed Wise, not her. Jenkins says based on her statement she had imagined the death of White. Christie, who would have recorded the trial proceedings, adds Riley acted under the influence and direction of White. This information surely came from her testimony at the trial. Based on this information, it is possible White forced Riley to murder Wise, or at least persuaded her to be an accomplice to the crime. Bragg says Riley was a willing accomplice because she desperately loved White. There’s also the possibility that Riley and White were victims of anti-Irish prejudice and might have been framed for the murder. The possibility of this is born out of the fact that the acting head magistrate in Oglethorpe’s absence was Thomas Causton, who came under severe criticism from some settlers for abusing his authority and even manipulating trial juries to render verdicts that agreed with his notions of justice. Causton had no training as a lawyer and probably very little knowledge of English common law. The character of Alice Riley elicits a good deal of sympathy from those who hear her story. After all, William Wise is depicted as the dastardly and abusive master who used her in whatever way he pleased. Sweet emphasizes the harsh circumstances they would have endured and sets the ground for their possible innocence. If that was the case, the Savannah authorities executed the wrong people for the crime. The most touching element in the story is the fact that Riley brought forth a son while in jail and had that child snatched from her arms shortly before being sent to the gallows. Imagine what that must have been like for her. It is easy to sympathize with her plight. To add insult to this already injurious situation, the baby died shortly after his mother, who confessed to the bitter end she was innocent. It may not be her actual ghost who wanders Wright Square seeking the child she tragically lost, but her story is haunting enough by itself to give us pause when wandering through the square. Category:Oct 2014 Category:Savannah Morning News